PLEASE
NOTE:
The Operation
Crossbow
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

This
group of dramas are sometimes about acting, sometimes about action,
sometimes a mix of both are here in time for awards season. What is
interesting is how some of these films, old and now, get mixed.

Hitchhike
To Hell
(1977) is
a low budget indie from the time that isn't anything incredibly
groundbreaking in terms of storytelling, but is also very real. (As
in it could and has happened many times in America...) Centering
around a nerdy looking serial killer named Howard (who happens to be
a single white male), the killer goes picks up his prey on the
roadside, but it is specifically only after those (mostly women) who
have run away from home. Strongly grounded in family values and
something of a mama's boy, Howard doesn't like when people disobey
their mother and is willing to kill them over it. A cautionary tale
for sure, the film is a bit dated, but could be a likely scenario for
anyone whose willing to go hitchhiking... you really never know who
you're getting in the car with.

The
film stars Robert Gribbin, Russell Johnson, and John Harm and is
directed by Irvin Berwick, who also directed Malibu
High
and Piers
Blancas.

Special
Features include:

Newly-filmed
appreciation by Nightmare
USA
author Stephen Thrower

Road
to Nowhere: Hitchhiking Culture Goes to Hell
- brand new video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas exploring the
dark side of hitch-hiking in the real world and on the screen

Original
theatrical trailer

Original
press book (BD-ROM Content)

Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Twins
of Evil

and
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the
film by Heather Drain

While
this formula of 'highway killer' has been done in stronger films,
Hitchhike
to Hell
is a fun time capsule piece that was likely screened in drive-ins
during a double bill. It's by no means groundbreaking, but fun to
watch if you're in the mood for '70s sleaze.

Continuing
with some sleaze, Lorene Scafaria's Hustlers
4K
(2019) tells a true story of lady strippers over a period of about a
decade's time, though some of the sleaze here is crime. Constance Wu
is a new gal at a local strip club where big money is bring thrown
around in NYC, but she is not getting much of it. Then she realizes
the strippers have things going on in advance with a circle of rich
clients who keep spending and bringing in more friends, so she
decides to find out more. Helping her is one of the top ladies at
the club (Jennifer Lopez) who befriends her and helps her learn how
to pole dance because hey, what are friends for?

We
discover this is all being told in flashback to a reporter (Julia
Styles) who is trying to find out what happened later (the 2008
financial crash shakes up the gals on a roll) and we get the rise,
fall and other details of what happened. Now this is based on a true
story from a newspaper article and much of it is believable, but the
film does not make the best of its 110 minutes as the latter half of
the film becomes repetitive, Lopez's Ramona repeats herself a little
too much in this part, there is limited character study and the
occasional attempts to imitate Scorsese (narration and voice over) do
not have the impact they could have.

The
cast is good and the directing good, but it has the same issues (if
not as bad) as The
Kitchen
in that it is telling the story of a group of women, but cannot find
the total way or discourse to do so. In both cases, it is as if no
one remembers women directing film more than 10 to 20 years ago.
There are some funny moments here, but also, the film is unsure if it
wants to condone or condemn the crimes the gals later pull and does
not explore (only just keep repeating) how immoral the Wall Street
clients may or may not be. That all ultimately holds the film back
from being really good or great.

Lopez
is good here, though she does not get enough non-romance/musical
roles, so it would be nice to see that change. The supporting cast
is a plus too including Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, a brief Cardi B
and the always underrated Mercedes Ruehl, but it is also a film that
sort of keeps winking at the audience and that gets annoying quickly,
name dropping and all.

At
least for the STX production company, it is one of the best releases
they ever had. Let's hope they're turning a corner.

Extras
include Digital Copy, while the discs add a feature length audio
commentary track by Director Scafaria and two Original Theatrical
Trailers.

Jake
Speed
(1986) is
an '80s adventure franchise starter that never became a franchise.
While it has all of the ingredients with plenty of action, romance,
and a formidable foe in the late great John Hurt (Alien,
Hellboy),
it must not have had the mainstream appeal at the time to catch much
of a following. The film is presented here for the first time on
Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with a great looking new transfer and
new extras.

When
an author (Denis Christopher) meets his own fictional pulp hero
character Jake Speed (Wayne Crawford), the two go on a mission to
help rescue a girl from white slavers down in Africa. But the head
of the operation, Sid (Hurt), has other plans for the young girl.

and
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new
writing by Mark Cunliffe

Jake
Speed
is very '80s and is road on the coat tails of Indiana Jones and
Romancing
the Stone
in hopes of mirroring that success, only missed by lacking the heart
and staying power of those films.

Michael
Anderson is a one of those journeyman filmmakers people do not hear
enough about these days. His 1956 70mm version of Around
The World In 80 Days
remains the best version of that book and a blockbuster hit that won
the Academy Award for Best picture, while his 1976 hit Logan's
Run
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) was one of the last pre-Star
Wars
hits that is sometimes imitated and also not discussed as much. In
between, another one of his larger productions was Operation
Crossbow
(1965) produced by Carlo Ponti at MGM at the same time they made one
of the all-time hits: David Lean's Dr.
Zhivago.

Taking
place during WWII, the Nazis are trying to find out why a small
bomber that launches small bombs keeps killing their pilots, a
precursor to the work they are doing with the V-2 rocket, et al. If
they can fix the flyer, attacking and bombing Britain will be much
easier, but the Allies find out they have the secret flyer by chance
from aerial spy film stills and start a spy operation to infiltrate
the Nazi missile base to disrupt it all.

George
Peppard and Tom Courtney play the spies pretending to be supporting
the Axis project and when the former pretends to be another man, the
man's real life wife (Sophia Loren) shows up at the hotel they are
staying at. Besides some good suspense and some good action, we get
some cold moments from the Nazis and some great acting from a
supporting cast that also includes no less than Trevor Howard, John
Mills, Richard Johnson, Jeremy Kemp, Lilli Palmer, Anthony Quayle,
Paul Henreid, Sylvia Sims, Richard Todd, Maurice Denham, John Fraser,
Patrick Wymark, Robert Brown, Ferdy Mayne, Karel Stepanek and Allan
Cuthbertson. Also look for uncredited turns by Anton Diffring,
Jeremy Spencer, Charles Lloyd Pack and Philip Madoc.

That's
an insanely excellent cast and one you'd be hard to find today in any
film, no matter how high the budget, but this is serious filmmaking
by serious talent. Though it is based on some serious history and
some actual people who helped win the war, the film still had some
budget limits here and there, plus in the last reel or two, it cannot
help looking more like a James Bond film than a serious war drama.

I
still prefer this over what we might get today, though some of the
visual effects, editing and a bit of the sets date the film, it is
still very ambitious and definitely worth your time. I give MGM
credit for making this one of their bigger British productions.

Extras
include a rough Original Theatrical Trailer and vintage featurette A
Look Back At Crossbow
(about 10 minutes long in black and white) that talks about the real
history behind this movie and has a few pan and scan clips from it in
the end.

Finally
we have Richard Linklater's Where'd
You Go, Bernadette?
(2019) with Cate Blanchett as the title character, a neurotic
mother/wife who used to be an architect, but left the business after
sexism, disappointment and other reasons has led to have had it with
everything. She still loves her daughter and husband (Billy Crudup
from After
The Wedding)
but it has gotten to her as has her neighbor (Kristen Wiig, more than
holding her own here) so what will she do to break the monotony?

Based
on a best-selling book, the film has some good moment,s but it
eventually becomes a mixed bag, also a bit repetitive and never adds
up to what it could have, so it is more of Linklater in freestyle and
some of it I simply did not buy. The actors are good and it is not
bad visually, but maybe it is a little too comical for its own good
and that does not help it focus like it needed to. Now, you can see
for yourself.

Extras
include Digital Copy, while the disc adds a stills gallery and two
short featurettes: Bringing
Bernadette To Life
and Who
Is Bernadette?

Now
for playback quality. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1 HDR (10; Ultra
HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Hustlers
was hot on a more advanced Arri Alexa HD camera and has a nice,
smooth, colorful look throughout. It is easily the best-looking disc
on the list, though many of them look fine, and also outdoes its
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on the decent, regular
Blu-ray. The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the DVD version is on the
soft side and is not easy to watch, especially after seeing the 4K
version in action.

Hitchhike
to Hell
is presented in 1080p high definition with the option to watch the
film in either 1.33.1 full frame or 1.78:1 widescreen and has been
remastered in 2K from the original film elements. The audio mix is
an original uncompressed mono track that sounds fine considering the
nature and age of the film. The presentation is as good as it can
be, but some scenes are a bit rougher looking than others, with heavy
film noise and grain due to the condition of the source print. In
this case, it adds to the 'grindhouse' style feel to the movie and
works for it rather than against it. Arrow has done a nice job here
making do with what they have.

Jake
Speed
is presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio
of 1.85:1 and an original lossless 2.0 stereo audio mix in PCM as
well. For being an older film, it looks and sounds fine here with
nothing that hinders the performance. Originally shot on 35mm, the
money is on the screen in this film.

Operation
Crossbow
was shot in real 35mm anamorphic Panavision and is here in a new HD
master in 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition that looks good and
may show a few flaws (like editing between scenes), but looks
consistent otherwise and Director of Photography Erwin Hiller (The
Quiller Memorandum,
The
Dam Busters)
often uses the widescreen frame to its best advantage, but stock
footage that is obviously not scope does get in the way a bit.

The
the 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Bernadette
is also just fine as you'd expect from any Linklater film, with some
interesting shots and compositions. Its DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is dialogue-based and well
recorded, but surrounds are for music, outdoor sequences and a few
surprises.

The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Crossbow
apparently comes from its original 6-track 70mm blow-up magnetic
soundmaster and can show its age in some sound effects and older
audio effects, but its a fine upgrade for the most part with some
traveling dialogue and sound effects.

Both
the 4K and regular Blu-ray editions of Hustlers
offer Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 for older systems) and it
has the best sound here, again as expected, with the tracks
emphasizing the club atmosphere, the music and a few other details.
That means the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD is very reduced
and passable at best. Dialogue is well recorded too.

To
order the Warner Archive Operation
Crossbow
Blu-ray, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive
releases at: